Shards of Hope
by clairedoesdance
Summary: We know where Katniss goes after the Quarter Quell, but what did Johanna go through? How was she protecting her? From the POV of her sister Lizza, Johanna comes in in chapter 3. Rated T for language later on  it is Johanna and all
1. Chapter 1

District 1: Luxury Goods for the Capitol  
>District 2: Mining elements and making weapons (also unofficially provided Peacekeepers)<br>District 3: Electronics/Technology  
>District 4: Fishing<br>District 5: DNA Splicing/breeding  
>District 6: Medicine and other scientific research (aka morphlings)<br>District 7: Lumber and paper products  
>District 8: Textiles<br>District 9: Food Processing  
>District 10: Livestock<br>District 11: Agriculture  
>District 12: Coal mining<br>District 13: (now terminated) Graphite Mining (used to make nuclear reactors)

Chapter 1.

I walk across the woods wind in my hair and all around me. This is my home. Not the stuffy government provided one, the real one that lives within my heart. Here I feel free, the trees are my extended family, but the real family lay hidden so deep I have to really hurry before it gets dark or I'll get lost.

There they sit, in the small hut I constructed. Mylar, and Palma, and also their daughter that I helped birth Pillar. I throw down my bag. Yes, this is my true home where I can do no wrong, where there is no such thing as despair, depression, drunkenness, abuse. This place is warm, though the rain water drips through a couple openings. But I can fix that. Mylar and Palma have lived here since I can remember which is about when I was nine years old. They were refugees after the uprising of District 8, our neighbor district to the west. Pillar opens my bag and grabs the herbs I had snagged from several trees earlier today. Since I'm part of the "lumber gathering system" and I'm tiny, I have to climb to the top of the tree to get the small twigs out before the jacks can go in and actually cut down the tree, all the twigs I get, along with other people's, make our surplus of firewood that supplies the whole district, but what the law enforcement doesn't know, that when summer hits, fruits and flowers with nectars bloom up there and I secretly keep these for my family and close friends. When I say family, I mean the people going through my bag right now. My real blood family doesn't need the nectar because they have that vile drink called vodka.

"Lizza." Pillar calls. "What plant is this?" she examines it with care.

"That is a bulb; I found it at the base of a tree." She inhales it deeply.

"Smells like…hickory."

"I don't know." I look far off into the woods. "Didn't look." I've seen so many trees, I've lost count. I've been climbing since I was 7. Though my job is to climb trees, my secret hobby is to climb rocks. It's much more exhilarating and much more stable. But I am thankful I wasn't stuck in the paper factories like a couple of my friends. It stinks and you work well until 2 in the morning, then you come home, and of course wash yourself off because you smell like pulp and then collapse on the bed, often without dinner. You get 25 minutes for lunch and dinner there, but if you bring food, people will attack you so fast, it'll be gone before it touches your lips. Especially if its meat. Since we live in such a dense area, you'd think there would be plenty of animals around. But there's not. What with the jacks clomping around, and us scurrying up trees where there would usually be squirrel nests, we've scared into the fenced off area and into District 12. Most of us are herbivores, and vegetarians. I've actually never tasted meat in my life. Usually, I just eat mash, which is like oatmeal but bland, and apples and pears from my friends, and nectar from the flowers I find, and if I really want to, I can roast bark and make a delicious meal. Pillar grabs the bag and puts my findings in a pot of rainwater she has collected from the hole, she places it so close to the fire, and it just starts to boil. The greens mesh with the strains of red herb that I can only guess is saffron. The scent is heavenly. I pull myself off the hard and cold earth floor and brush myself off.

"Wouldn't mind if I stayed over tonight, would you Palma?" He mumbles a yes. Palma doesn't speak much, just tunes the radio they brought with them. Every night he tries for hours for a signal, and then listens to the Rebel air cast and names of dead rebel fighters, of course, not all of them are named. There are too many to name, but the ones we've heard of, the major ones who have whole platoons are important. District 7 is pretty secure. We don't really have food problems to complain about, there's always plenty of wood to burn. We get lots of rain and snow so we're good on water. Summers aren't hot because we're under trees. From what I've heard on his radio, I'm not going to begin complaining any time soon. I fine with the Peacekeepers as long as they don't mess with me. And, yes that sounds selfish but in theory, our district is fend for yourself or get turned up cold. People don't care about you up here. Don't mess with their family. We all have very strong families in our community and your last name matters. Usually, I'd be alright. The Masons have a place in society, or at least they did. People respect me. But I don't pretend like I don't know why. It's because of my traitor sister. The whole reason my father is drunk and snoring right now with no fire and drips of nevaeh sap sitting on the unsanded wood table. The only one thing I truly loathe is that god awful waste of flesh. Johanna had promised to never go to the games. Promised my mother she would never abandon me. Promised my father that whenever she said eat she would think of him because his name is Enosh. She never promised anything to me or my little sister. What did they do when my sister tore that tracker out of that girl, cat-something? They led my mother to the square, and shot her. What did they do to my sister when she got sick and I took her to the healer? They let me sit there for two days with no heat or food or water, and then, they gave her a poison so that she would die. All so Johanna could see their suffering on her behalf. She never writes, or calls, or contacts anyone back here. Her normal days were gone 5 years ago when she lied to everyone in the arena. Just like how she lied to me everyday, telling me she loved me. She had a job here. My fingers get numb with cold everyday because I pick up her slack that she long ago left for me to do. I'm glad Palma and Mylar aren't from this district. I can actually talk to them without harsh looks, or pity which is even worse. I don't get sympathetic glances for them. I am not judged because of what my sister did. I know that lying is bad, but I am not above to be able to be myself around someone.

Palma finally finds the station he's looking for 127.13. Of course, that's where the rebel base is. District 13. That's where my sister sits, no doubt addicted to morphling. And then I hear it. I hear that undeniable voice, filled with hope. It's Peeta. He can move mountains with words. People swoon over him all the time, forgetting about Katniss. Katniss is pathetic and rude and only thinks of herself and Peeta. Its her whole fault my sister isn't back here. Now Katniss goes into a report about people taken by the Capitol. And that's when I hear it. Johanna Mason, and a second later, I look out the door, and I see…planes. I quickly jump on Mylar, sitting with Pillar and Palma, covering the radio, and spilling the pot of herbs over. I look up and in an instant, everything is orange and yellow and black and I can smell it before I see it. We are like Katniss Everdeen. We are on fire.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

Kindle burns. Fast. And I'm not aware just how fast it burns until I am completely engulfed in it. I smell something. I go to the pot with the herbs, now all over the earth floor.

"Don't try and save it." Mylar says grabbing a quilt and stuffing it in a bag.

"I'm not." I mumble. The substance in between my fingers isn't water like I thought. It is oil. Kerosene, by the smell around me. Now I understand why the woods are burning so quickly, the rain was switched to oil after dark so no one can tell. Pieces of ember float all around me. I quickly grab my bag. I had been smart to stuff two small axes in my bag. I quickly take them out and hand one to Palma. We begin to hack away at the fallen logs all around us. Pillar is struggling in the dense smoke. I pick her up and carry her until we reach the lake I was aiming for. We are well into the ruins of District Twelve now. This is the place where Katniss Everdeen lived. This is the rebel base. I feel the heat of the earth as I rub ashes between my fingers. I can hear it before I see it. A hovercraft materializes before me.

"Run!" I scream. I don't know if they hear me because in an instant I'm frozen and a woman in a lab coat takes a hair. I'm shackled and bound to a chair. My heart races. What will they do to me? I was sure they'd kill me. But then I hear someone scream, "A Mason!" and I know why I sit here. It is because of my name. It has saved me. I worry over Pillar and Palma and Mylar. Did they get away? Did they die? I decide this will be my first question. I am taken to a room. A man comes in.

"Where are we from?"

"Where are they?" I scream. "What did you do to them?" He seems perplexed.

"Who?"

"You know who." I shoot back. He races his hand and my cheek becomes hot with impact.

"You will answer my questions. I spared you." We must be far away from Pillar. They are safe. But still, possibly, they could be held captive. He repeats the question. I lie.

"District 2." I say.

"And your purpose in District 12?"

"I was sent to see if it really was destroyed, personal mission." He seems to get the story and begins to walk out the room. But he turns.

"Oh, and Lizza?"

"Yes." Shit. He got me. He smirks and takes his seat back.

"I will tell you where you are from." I lean back.

"Go ahead." He pulls out a thick file.

"Born in… March. To Enosh and Patama. Mother, dead. Father, presumed dead. Sister, questionably alive but alive nonetheless." Johanna. "Other sister, dead. What was her name?" This is just cruel. I grit back my teeth to keep from crying.

"None of our business." He raises his hand, "Nessa, Nessarose." I lean forward.

"My turn. Where are they? What have you done with them?"

"With who?"

"You know who!" I am infuriated. He stands. "The others, with me, Pillar and Palma and Mylar." He smirks, hungry for blood.

"There were, others?" He turns to the guard by the door. "Turn around." My reaction is so animal and instinct, I don't realize I'm doing it until the guard pries me off him and throws me in a corner. I see the damage. His bottom eyelids have sagged with blood. He spits some out. He then drags me to the window. I see them, wandering blindly through the woods. I begin to scream only to be muted by a cloth brought to my mouth. A small vibration in the hovercraft and they all fall down, dead. Pillar looks behind her and straight into my eyes as if she can see me. And maybe she can. Then she falls and I bite the security guard. A jolt in the small of my back and I'm gone. But I have a reason to fight. I have a reason to speak to my sister. I have a vendetta for the death of my family. My mother. My father, even if I don't care about him. My sisters. Now, the only family I have left, dead. I will fight. I will win. Because I am Lizza Shanti Mason and I have a vengeance that needs to be put in action.

They bring in a meal for me. I look at it suspiciously, dissect it and ask for a drink. The same man who interrogated me says, "We don't need to kill you, yet." My heart skips a beat because it looks like a genuinely good meal. If my father had taught me anything it was to never refuse a hot meal. With the rainy weather nearly always over 7 we never really had a fire to heat our 16 by 16 house. I begin to eat it in tiny bites and then bigger ones. But the drink I never touch. There is no telling what is laced in that stuff. I'm about to grab it when two rough hands grab both arms and hold me still as a man all in white with a mask on like I had some catchable disease comes in with a needle and then, the fluid goes into my arm.

I know what they are doing. They are trying to receive memories. I try not to think about Johanna or Nessa because I want their memories untainted. Instead, I unhinge all the moments my father would hit me in sap moments. School lessons about the Hunger Games. Hunger Games, Johanna. The next thing I think about is something so dark I really ever think of it. The last time I spoke to Johanna. If I pull up this memory they will surely kill me. Because I showed Johanna a way to cheat the games. That is never allowed and surely I will die. But what do I have live for anyways? Nothing. And no one. The memory is too strong and I relive it in my nightmares.

After her name is called, my mother begins to weep. We are led into the Justice Building where I sit until it is my turn and we are alone. I brush my hand over the barrette that holds back my hair and I remember something they give us shortly after we are trained to climb. My barrette could save Johanna from pain. I walk in and we talk sentimental crap knowing neither of us are lovey people. Finally, I become urgent and hushed. I take my barrette out.

"Jo. This is something I always keep with me. I wear it to work. I eat with it in. I sleep with it in. Take it. There's, there's this peg right here." My trembling hands take it out. "After they train us, they give each climber this. If we ever fall, and are dying, it speeds up the process. It's called nightlock. It is deadly and I want you to have it. If you are…attacked, and know death is coming, I don't want you to be in pain. I want it to be quick. Not for you, for me and mother so she won't do anything rash. Please, use it if you can." The peacekeeper comes in and drags me out.

"Don't let mother do anything rash, don't let father spend everything on sap. Don't remember me I'm coming back. Keep Nessa alive."

"I will I promise." I swallow. How stupid a promise to keep. Everything she said happened. "I love you." I say it coldly. The memory dissolves away. They have what they need I am coaxed back to life by a slap. I see my interrogator.

"Looks like we have a little rule breaker here. That will not do." I see we are in a firm building. It is deep down and cold. The fluorescent lights hum unforgiving. "Take her away." I am dragged by my elbows down a hallway in nothing but a hospital gown. I scream and flail around but one reassuring kick to the stomach tells me it's no use. I can't keep the promise to stay alive. The kick tells me I have failed at everything including life. And now, I have no barrette to call my own.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey Guys, I know this is a short chapter, but it's a big one (that's what she said) ok anyways, it's a lot to take in and I feel like focusing directly on Johanna and how much she has changed

Chapter 3.

They throw me in a dark cell, with one high up window that is barred with no pane. The unfiltered sunlight comes in but is cold.

"You're here." A voice comes out of the shadows. Her face comes just into the moonlight so I can see her outline.

"Johanna." I whisper. The barrette glistens in her hair. It's hard to recognize her. Her hair has grown out long, nearly unrecognizable and matted in blood. Her thin lips replace full ones. Her eyes straining to see. Hollow, like termites have invaded her and eat out her insides. This makes her dangerous. They would never let us climb trees like that because they would shatter and dissolve. They were untrustable and would turn on you in a minute. She is a hollow tree.

She crawls over with her arms, her legs dangling hopelessly. They have been broken. When I was little, a girl just learning how to climb fell and broke both her legs. Of course, they sent her to the factory, where legs aren't needed.

"This is the last thing I want." She sighs and takes out the barrette, twirling it in her hand. "The peg, it fell out in here somewhere. But it's always too dark to look." I reach out to her, trying to act gentle, we both were never good at that.

"That's alright." I tell it to her to comfort her, to cushion the fall. We sit in silence. She thinks. I look out the window, for anything. I'll look at anything other than those godforsaken eyes.

"What do they do here?" I'm scared for the answer of what waits for me.

"They bring food every three days. And unfiltered water. Just enough to last you if you ration it right. If you ration it wrong, it's all over."

"Just like the games." I mumble, not noticing Johanna flinch. "Sorry."

"What happened, after I left?" she looks out the window absently.

"Well, where to begin?"

"Mom, start with mom. Then work all the way down to Nessa." Now, she doesn't notice me flinch.

"Mom? Well, she, she died. A day after you left. She went into one of her rages while we were at the square watching. She said things she didn't mean, she couldn't control it. You know her rages; you were the only one who could control them." She smirks at this. "They shot her. Left she in the street didn't even look her way after that." She swallows.

"And dad?" she says hoarsely. I bite my lip. How can I tell her she's the only family I have left? I can't. I can't tell her the only thing she loves, District 7 is gone.

"He got worse with his addiction after mom left us. Black nevaeh became his constant friend, the house wreaked of it so usually I'd take Nessa and myself over to…" should I tell her about Mylar? No. She would just be angry. "Akiva Kurrah's, we kind've became a thing when you left." She chuckles slightly at this.

"A-and Nessa?" I hesitate. Nessa was the only thing that made her smile.

"Well, she got sick about 3 years after you left." I scoot closer and cautiously lay a comforting hand on her skinny knee. I know this will be the final blow that makes the tree fall. "I tried to take her to the doctor but, they, they didn't see her in time. I sat there with her for 3 days with no heat, or water, or food, or another single soul around. I was there when she slipped away. It was peaceful." I can't talk anymore, she'll understand. We sit in silence and tears threaten to spill over her eyes, I see them in the moonlight. She quickly turns away and brushes them out.

"What were her last words?" she says shakily.

"What?"

"What. Were. Her. Last. Words?" her voice has an edge of steel in it not but still threatens to break.

"They were, um," I try to think, "take care of yourself and stay alive. And if you see Jo…" Now I'm crying quietly. "tell her I love her." She sighs and I can see tears. I barely utter them, but I know she hears. She drags herself into her dark corner and brings a stale chunk of bread.

"Here," I don't know why she's being so kind, "you're the only family I have left. And since you can't take care of anyone else, I'll have to take care of you." I want so badly to lash back about Pillar and Mylar and Palma, but I would betray them. I smirk and try to look glum like I have disappointed her, all the while knowing my sweet secret. This comforts me. I take it and realize I haven't eaten in a while.

"Thanks." She returns to her corner and I hear muffled sobs. The tree has fallen and the animals are about to snatch it up until it is all but gone.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey guys, me again, please review. This is a long chapter, maybe I should divide it in half. I'm trying to upload all the chapters I prewrote before I actually got the account. Tell me what you think cus this is my first

-thanks- Claire

Chapter 4.

In the morning, after I wake up, I see Johanna is absent from her corner. My heart leaps. There isn't really anywhere else she could hide in this tiny cell. I crawl over to her corner in curiosity. There are pale white rags in a sort of bed. A tan tray of food. A shard of something is hidden and I nearly miss it if it weren't for the pale sunlight streaming in suddenly. A mirror. Of course, Johanna has a mirror. Johanna, besides being one of the prettiest people I know, is one of the vainest. She got the better end of both gene pools, my mother's tan skin and green eyes, and my father's charming looks. I look more like my mother but with my father's grey eyes. I look in the mirror and am shocked by what I see. A bruise sits high on my cheek bone. My semi- curly/ semi- wavy hair has somehow gotten darker. The only things that kind've are similar to Johanna are my freckles from working in the woods and my slanted nose I had been fortunate enough to inherit from my mother. Otherwise, I would have my father's bumpy and knotted one. A door, I didn't know was there opens and Johanna is dragged in by two guards. She is soaking wet. Her long hair hangs over her face, her feet are dragged lazily. They slump her against the wall. Awake, she is awake. One guard leaves and another stays for a moment.

"I'll try to sneak some more over later Jo but right now I can't risk anything." He hurries after the other guard. Another tan tray of food it tossed in and their brief visit is over. No one noticed me. I realize it is because I am in the corner, the only blindspot, the reason Johanna must like it so much. She always preferred night to day. She said the stars made her happier because she could look up and see them without blinding herself. She moans and I look over at her. She has a paper robe, thrown sloppily over her back. She is leaned against a wall.

"Help." She says hoarsely. I run over to her and on my way grab a piece of bread. I give it to her to eat, but instead, she uses it to try and wipe all the water off her body.

"Jo-" I start to say, she stops me. She is shaking.

"Don't even try to understand. Let me do it." I grit my teeth and back up, taking the chance to take a sip of water. I sit until she is almost dry.

"Jo, who was that guy? The one who said he'd be back?" She smirks.

"Zeb, he's an underground rebel worker, he helps me out, he's gonna help us get out of here."

"What does he do?" She thinks, it's like her brain has a stopper in it.

"He brings me cloth sometimes, and more food and he also brought a heater in last winter." She speaks slowly, with a slur. There must be a catch. "But, I have to serve him in exchange we talk sometimes and sometimes he wants a hug. He's focusing on getting medicine for my legs. That's what's holding us back from escaping. It costs a lot." She begins to cough again. I quickly grab one of the rags from her corner. She grips my arm. Through her teeth, she says, "Don't ever go back in there. That is mine. Do. Not. Touch. Anything." Its times like these my sister really scares me. Back home, she would only get like that when she couldn't hear herself think, or she was really trying to keep mom from her rages.

My mother had once been normal. She wasn't gorgeous, but she wasn't ugly either. She was an average District 7 citizen. Her father had been a jack, and her mother had been a climber, like me, but she didn't climb as high, just to get certain spot on certain trees to find berries and things for the family to live on. My mother was one of the select few in the district who had a difference in looks. She had tan skin, and small eyes, in opposition with the regular olive skin and big eyes but she had the same gorgeous hair as any "sevie" would. My mother was sent to the factory at age 7 and because of how small she was, they made her go under the machines to get broken parts. Her friend, Marcella went in to get some sort of piece and several days later was brought out in pieces. My mother never let herself live that down and no one knows why that was except her. It tore her to pieces and she'd never been the same since. The only thing my mother loved and vice versa was my father. She would become fully alive with him and those were the only times when he was happy. The demons that usually possessed them in such different ways would be rid and we would see who they really were. It was true love. Because of my mother's fits, Johanna had always been the true mother of the family. My father was gone so often that she also filled his role too. My father kept his addiction to nevaeh sap a secret until after mother died. He would come home at 4 in the morning instead of two. He had craved it since grade school. Nevaeh sap is a black, tar substance that can only enter your body through your arm with a syringe. It makes you incomprehensible and you become a sort of vegetable on it. It comes from the Neveah tree, one I don't dare climb. They are full of dangerous, ravenous creatures that are high on the stuff as well. The tree is full of it and you have to tap it to get it. My father paid a jack named Lars to tap it for him. He spent my mother's funeral costs on an extra surplus of it after she died. I think Johanna had once loved my mother. I believe that was the only person she ever loved because she felt she could fix them. That's the thing with Johanna, she always tries to fix things, and it makes her feel like she's needed. She tries to fix things that don't need fixing, like me I don't even want fixing.

She eventually gains back her strength and drags herself into her corner. When I wake up, I see Zeb sitting by the place where the door is. He eyes me. He has light brown hair, and small blue eyes. He is very pale, nothing impressive except maybe his height. He is very lean and tall and it makes me think of a jack back home. Except, a jack back home wouldn't have light brown hair unless he was albino, his hair is a rarity and you are especially considered a catch back in 7 because everyone craves what they can't have. I realize I've been staring at him and he's waiting for a word I think of what will make Jo happiest.

"A comb." I say quietly. I realize what he must think of me, Johanna's scrawny little sister who can't keep anyone alive.

"What?" He scoots closer.

"Bring Johanna a comb. It's what she wants, I can tell." I look over at her tiny sleeping body. He smirks.

"You know she really loves you." I shake my head in doubt. She has truly always loathed me. Halfway because I really was my mother's favorite and halfway because she couldn't fix me.

"She took your session too. Said you knew nothing." He smirks again. I have no idea what he means.

"What session?"

"Interrogating, they hurt you for answers, she didn't think you deserved that with you not knowing or anything." I look over at her.

"Why would she do that? What do they do to you?"

"For everyone its different. For Peeta, they make him watch reruns of his games and alternate his mind on them." Peeta. He is here and alive. And Zeb acts so nonchalant about their acts of torture. Amazing, yet terrifying. "For Enobaria, they show her mercy, which terrifies her. And for your sister," I look up at this, "They soak her, and shock her. It was the only way they could think of not coming in contact with her. She's an animal in there. She goes rabid. They were actually afraid of her. She's so defiant under anything, so…tempting. It's like she dares you to try and reckon with her. They stand behind one sided glass and she's on the other side. The rooms all white except for this pool in the middle. They tie her from a rope in the middle of the ceiling. The pool looks serene, but it's actually lined with coils. They drop her in up to her neck in 10 second intervals, and lace the pool with electricity. The questioning usually lasts about 10 minutes, but since she spared you it was 20. It is usually a question per electrocution if she doesn't answer." I am in shock, I sit against the wall. There's so much detail, such meticulous planning that goes into those acts of torture.

"A comb." I repeat. "She wants a comb."

"Sounds good to me, but it'll cost her-"

"No." I interrupt. "It will cost me, I will pay for everything now, not Johanna. I will order everything and I will pay for it." He tenses up.

"Very well, but it'll cost you," he thinks, "A story for everything I bring about back home. In 7, Johanna never talks to me, and I'm lonely."

"Fine, but I want a story back." We shake on it and he promises me the comb. I recede to a warm spot under the moonlight and curl up on Johanna's discarded paper robe. I look over at her, totally submerged in darkness, just like she wants.

In my nightmares, I am Johanna and I relive everything, the games, trying desperately to get home but being held in the captive, going in a second time, feeling hate for Katniss every step of the way. I am forced to love her and protect her. My jealousy for Peeta and how I nearly kill her to save her like they want. And this is how they repay me? By sending me captive by the Capitol, and now my family is dead except for my sister and it's her fault. Now I feel hatred over myself. Johanna hates me, I ruined her hopes of getting back home.

I wake up cold and I see the paper robe is off of me and I am left in the hospital gown they gave me. I crawl over and see that Johanna has it over her along with rags. I roll my eyes and pull it off of her. Before I can go back to my spot, a hand grasps my ankle. I freeze. Her grip is so tight. Nails, left unfiled from not doing work sink in my skin. I have forgotten her strength. It is unmarked, that's the reason she worked with the jacks.

"That's mine."

"You have all that." She scowls and doesn't let go. She digs in deeper and begins to yell.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT I'M DOING FOR YOU? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA!" I try to shake her off but that makes it hurt worse. Its like reasoning with a two year old who doesn't understand how to share.

"Johanna, let me go!" I scream it. "You have your rags I need something!"

She starts to scream like an animal with gurgling strangled cries. I drop the paper robe and flock by the door terrified out of my mind. Zeb comes in to respond to her screams and he is with several other guards, he looks panicked in his eyes, but on the outside he is very cool, and sharp. They grab her arm and the third guard hands Zeb a syringe. He bites his lip for only a second before shoving it in her arm, they all file out, except for Zeb, who says he is required to stay until the drug wears off.

"What is it? Will she die?" he looks at me, still in Peacekeeper mode.

"No." He sits against the wall. "It will subdue her. In the mean time, I want a story." I glance at her.

"When will it wear off?"

" 2 days, so get talking."

"Well, in 7, our main business is lumber. In order to cut down a tree, you have to have 2 lumberjacks, and a picker. I was a picker. It was my job to collect all the branches before the tree is cut down. Typically, a small girl does this. So I climb up the tree and pick them. It takes a lot of training to learn how to balance on thin branches. Usually, you're sent to the factory that makes the trees into paper. It stinks and it creates a dull, miserable life for the workers. Johanna and I were lucky enough to be tiny so we both were pickers, but Johanna got too big, the jacks kept her around and she would help a lot, bring them cider and things like that."

He smiles. "And your family?" I tense up.

"I had a sister who was younger; her name was Nessarose, Nessa for short. She was 6 so she wasn't in training for anything, just school. My mom, she worked in the factory and my dad split his time between overseer of the factory and a jack."

"Johanna, did she have friends?"

"Just the jacks." He smiles. I go over to Johanna to collect my paper robe. He points to my leg.

"Let me fix that for you." He tells me to lick part of the robe he rips off. "It stops the flow of the blood." The warmth of the healing surprises me. I'm about to slip away to sleep when he chuckles, "You know Mason, you're alright." I smirk as I fall asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey guys, I think it might be going too fast. Please review

-thanks- Claire

Chapter 5.

I wake up from another nightmare of reliving Johanna's horrible life to see her huddled in the corner rocking back in forth, and Zeb is next to her, helping her in any way he thinks he can. And that's when I realize something. He loves her. But she's built up a wall, so thick, not even someone from 7 could penetrate it. She made so thick that you can't even puncture it. I walk over to him and offer him some stale bread. He takes it. She begins to shriek and thrash again and I wince.

"Just leave her." He nods and follows me back to the other side of the room. We sit a long time in silence and I listen to the sounds of Johanna and the hurried footsteps of the godforsaken people above us.

"I want a story." I try to think.

"When I was trained, there was a girl. She was climbing a tree and she was just starting out. Because she was so tiny, they made her go to the very top, but she made an amateur climber's mistake, don't climb the branches without leaves. They're dead. She stepped on one; she must've been 10 meters up. She fell and broke both her legs. For two years, her family tried to heal them back because climber and jacks get paid more than average factory workers. She stayed in a wheelchair though and they wheeled her to the factory when she was 9 and continued to work there." I sit there and nibble on more bread. Because of my stories (which sometimes I make up) Zeb has increased our food supply so I'm almost eating normally. He just smirks and drifts to sleep with his full belly.

My days are filled with talking. I talk with Jo about 7 in moderation, just little tidbits to remind her life were like. I talk with Zeb about 7. But, I never bring up Mylar or any of them. I can still see Pillar's face engraved in my brain. I think about what Johanna's life must be like here. How much time she had to herself before I was here? What did she do?

"I want something else." Zeb says. "A real story, not one on how to make a meal off bark. No training stories. 7 couldn't have been daisies and roses. I'm not dumb. Tell me something real."

"Quid pro quo." It's the only thing I know to say.

"I already give you this for that. I brought your sister back alive, I bring you food, I don't need to tell you stories because they aren't keeping my alive."

"Why do you call them stories? They're not fake."

"Bullshit they're not!" He screams. Johanna wakes. I am shocked by his rashness. "I want something real, nothing about training or whatever or how to make bark a meal. I want something meaningful and deep." I bit my lip to hold back the tears. "That's why I haven't brought you the comb. You want me to fix your sister's legs? Well I want something real about what life really was like in 7." I listen to Johanna's ragged breathe. Think Lizza, I think, think up something great about your 'family' and tell something about someone else's family remember, think! Before I can control it, I blurt out,

"The truth is my life was horrible in 7. Johanna was mean, my mother was crazy. My father was a drug addict and my little sister died young." I shut up. He soaks it in, "That's my life in 7, too many daisies and roses for you?" I scowl and turn my back to him. I can hear his heavy, fuming breathes and suddenly he jumps up and strides into Jo's corner. She begins to scream like an animal, unlike any scream before.

"Why do you hate your sister? What has she done?" Jo looks at me. Hatred.

"I hated her to protect her." She looks straight at me. "She didn't deserve my love, she wasn't…" she looks off. Broken. I think, I didn't need to be fixed. She slumps in her corner, relieved. I can already guess Zeb's life.

"Life in two wasn't easy was it?" I can see his neck tense up and he instantly turns around towards me. "Stuck in a sweaty mountain, learning to kill, not only people, but emotions. Learning to be as cold as the stone you're in. I'm guessing a father sent far off to a District to 'keep the peace'. Mother old, and broken from losing contact with her husband, distant, nothing but a shadow in the wind." I creep closer to him. "Left to grow up fast no siblings. You try to find your father, to keep your mother in reality. No love, never loved, never…will." I am slammed up against a wall. He's breathing heavily. The sudden jostle has caused Johanna to clutch her broken mirror. He turns to Johanna and goes in her corner, right in her face but looks straight at me.

"I," he pauses, crying softly, "am done helping you." He turns coldly and turns right when he gets to the door. He throws down 3 bread rations and some water bottles. He opens the door and throws two more things in the room, just right so it lands in Johanna's corner. A comb and a bottle of medicine.


	6. Chapter 6

Hey guys thanks so much for reading and reviewing I didn't read back over this chapter so sorry for all the grammatical mistakes and such, not my best, not my worst.

-THANKS- CLAIRE

Chapter 6.

I go over to comfort Johanna as the door slams coldly. She slumps against the wall and sobs. At first, she lets me, but gradually as her sobs soften she pushes me away. She begins to scream and pull her hair. But then her words come back to her and she pushes me against the wall. It's a giant blow and I've forgotten how strong she is.

"I hate you!" she screams, "I hate you! You ruined it!" We're going to die because of you." She jumps on me and begins to tear hair out, my hair, and punches me and rips my skin. I grab the mirror shard, the only weapon in sight. My vision starts to go red and I feel blood fill my mouth. I can barely see, but with my last glance, I see her fall next to me and her arm spills out blood which mixes with mine.

I wake up to see a thin, exhausted body trying to ration the breads evenly for 3 days. I also see a mirror shard next to her along with a comb. I sit up slowly and I begin to feel faint. I crawl over slowly behind her as to not startle her.

"If you want, I can wet you hair and comb it through." She looks at me with scared eyes, dewy with tears. "Never mind." She's afraid of water and I have forgotten. I'm sure she feels I've completely abandoned her. I turn away when she says:

"What are we going to do?" I look at her. Its like she's a little kid, looking to her parents for guidance.

"We're going to get through this, we're going to be ok. We're going to heal your legs and we're going to live." I hug her and she begins to sob softly.

"I miss home." She says.

"I know. You're not going anywhere until your legs mend back." She looks at me wide-eyed. I take a deep breath. "You will not leave this cell. From now on, I'm going to take your session too." She looks at me with these wide eyes and I have to look away. They are wet with innocence. All the boldness that she originally had has been stripped away. She is just a little girl again, younger on the inside than Nessarose. We sit there hugging each other and I rock her back and forth like I would do when Nessa was just born. I look out the cold window. Once again, Johanna has predicted what is going to happen. I am taking care of her, which can only lead to death. My eyes fill with tears. What awaits me outside of these walls? I haven't known anything but them for…how long? These walls are my world now. They are my safety net, I don't know anything but them. What is outside of them scares me. Will I turn out like Johanna? Will she be healed enough to take care of me? Will she want to take care of me?

In the morning, the guards come in. Among them, is Zeb. They go over to Johanna, but I was careful enough to make sure I'd be awake and she'd be asleep. I step in front of them. Before they can raise a hand to slap me away, I speak up.

"Wait, no!" They looked surprised, including Zeb. "I will go." They all look at each other, as if not knowing what to do. They then turn to Zeb. He looks uncertain, and then he glances at me as if saying, do not do this. The pains in his eyes are clear. Without turning his eyes away, a "very well" escapes from his lips. They grab at me roughly, with rough hands. I am all but dragged away and placed in an all white room. In here, I feel unclean and grimy and begin to realize just how dirty I am. Maybe this is my punishment; make me feel inferior and wrong. But I hear screaming down the hall and it comes closer and harsher. They can't figure anything out. They don't know me well enough, didn't ever watch me in the arena. The man I met from the hovercraft comes in and slaps his file down. He looks harried and has aged since we last saw him. I put on my best Johanna face. A smartass smile and an eyebrow cocked up create this façade that I've spent years trying to create has finally come into play.

"We meet again." I sigh. "Since you never told me your name I'm going to have to make one for you. How bout…Silver Fox…no Grandpa?" He smirks back.

"Funny." A sudden vibration in the floor, my chair, sends me reeling and my head begins to pulse. He raises an eyebrow. "I don't think you're in the position to joke, Mrs. Mason." I try to act unphased.

"Tell me your name." I say with gritted teeth. He is my match. My equal, always has one more trick up his sleeve.

"Bates." That is the man who causes all the torture and agony. "Now, you will answer my questions and you will not play with me, all I need do is flip this switch and you will regret your words." I nod stiffly. "Now, did your father ever partake in any illegal activity?"

"He was a sap addict." I cringe waiting for a zing but it never comes.

"Please, expand. I do not spend my time idling and researching and pouring over District 7 slang." I purse my lips to keep from saying something in vain.

"My father kept his addiction to nevaeh sap a secret until after mother died. He would come home at 4 in the morning instead of two. He had craved it since grade school. Nevaeh sap is a black, tar substance that can only enter your body through your arm with a syringe. It makes you incomprehensible and you become a sort of vegetable on it. It comes from the Neveah tree, one I don't dare climb. They are full of dangerous, ravenous creatures that are high on the stuff as well. The tree is full of it and you have to tap it to get it. My father paid a jack named Lars to tap it for him. He spent my mother's funeral costs on an extra surplus of it after she died." I was shocked on where that came from. I decide to add, "He's dead now, thanks to the blast, so there's no need to press charges." Bates looks up smugly and I instantly regret it as a surge of electricity runs through my body, every nerve, fried. My teeth chatter together, my eyelids flutter, this surge is stronger, and longer. I begin to watch myself carefully.

"Moving on." He picks something from his fingers and he pushes a picture from the files towards me, "Have you ever seen this man?" Palma. I instantly want to cry out, all of those memories that I've so carefully stored away while in months that it shocks me more than the chair. I draw in a sharp breath and he raises an eyebrow.

"Trying to remember," lots of people died you know when you murdered them and all, "I think he was an artist of some sort. I remember giving him some berries that he said he was making into paint for his daughter. So maybe his daughter was the artist…" I try to drown myself in thoughts. Just not giving a name to the face.

"And his name would be?" He gestures towards the switch and flinch.

"Palma, I think? No, I know his name was Palma." He smirks.

"I think you more than know, we have pictures of you with them every night in their hut. Must've painted an awful lot." A sudden jolt and it's instantly taken away. "TELL THE TRUTH! DID YOU OR DIDN'T YOU KNOW ABOUT THE ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES IN WHICH PALMA SANDSPRIDGE WAS INVOLVED IN?" A look of madness and rage appear in his eyes.

I cower back "No I had no idea, I wouldn't have helped him if I-" A look of rage tells me that I cannot do anything to defend or protect myself from the lashing sting that makes my head tingle and my vision start to blot out.

"Ms. Mason, I believe I have made myself clear when I tell you it would not be wise, to lie."

"But I'm not! Why won't you believe me?"

"If we believed you, you wouldn't be here now would you? Be honest, you've been involved in dangerous illegal activities since the day you were born!" tears are streaming down my face, this truly is torture. I sit trying to think of what I could say that would make him believe me.

"I mean, sure I've taken the fruit from the tree I've picked or some extra branches home, but I wouldn't call my job 'dangerous'" Rage covers his face, I know one more zap and I'll be gone, whether I'll be dead or just passed out I'm not sure, but as I hear the hum of the chair, my vision goes and I hear a sad sort of cackle, a "very convincing Bates, I'm impressed," by a voice I've never heard. It sends more ice down my back than the surge makes it feel like. The voice seems to be laced in venom, ready to kill at any second and as clean cut and sharp as slate.


	7. Chapter 7

Hey Guys, I know, I really wish I didn't have to kill her off but I feel like its needed to keep the story going. Please and thank you review. Just to tell you, the rest of the book is all Johanna. So come Chapter 8, to however long to book will be, its all Johanna. Thanks so much for reading!

-THANKS- CLAIRE

Chapter 7.

I feel a luke-warm hand on my face, rough but as full of tenderness as possible. I feel the jagged scars and cuts. Johanna. I look up and she is singing softly, humming, not even paying attention to me besides this loving hand. She looks out the window of the cell as if she is not actually here. I don't think she's paying attention when she asks, "Did they break you yet?"

"No." I realize my ears are ringing some. She laughs.

"Don't worry, they will." I'd never told anyone about Pillar or Palma or Mylar before.

"Jo? They didn't ask me about you, they asked about, these people living in our district. Only, they weren't from our district. They were from 8. There were 2 when they came, and three when they-"

"Died. I know." I look at her. How could she know? "I'm here for a reason Liz. I deserve all the beatings, I actually know things about the rebellion. Someone had to let them in. I was told by Huze the main Jack that i'd be meeting a refugee family, i was 13. I knew the forest better than anyone else. So, he had me hide them deep in the woods. Of course, Mylar was pregnant so i had to steal medecine from the clinic." She knew all along. "I knew you had school and you only went for 2 hours and i had to work so i told them that if they needed help, the next time it rained, stumble into our house where youd be and then ask you for help, explaining the whole situatuion minus the Rebellion." She is the whole reason I'm here. "Palma was one of the most brilliant weaponsman. We needed him. I think they gave him a radio so he could listen to the broadcasts from thirteen. We couldn't risk him dying, so we moved him away from Seven. After you found them, i handed over full responsibility to you to care for them. I tried to make you leave the home when you could so i hated you and beat on you and yelled." A tear trickles down my face. Theyre dead. I let everyone down. As if on cue, a small piece paper floats down from the windown into our cell, we both rush over.  
>We are coming for you-127.13. The note is from the rebellion. They haven't forgotten. We read it outloud. "We need Zeb." Johanna says. She grabs her shard of mirror. "I'm sorry to do this Liz," her face turns to an evil smile. I cry out in pain as my shoulder blade turns red. My vision begins to come in and out and goes black with some spots. "You started it." Johanna screams "You deserve it, bitch!" I feel her foot on my left arm, Oh please not my left, anything but my left, I'm left handed! A slight slide of her feet and a sickening crunch seals my eyes into darkness.<p>

I wake up, my arm binded and Johanna watching longingly as Zeb paces. She isn't longing for him, she's longing for his legs. Yes, the medicine has helped but she still can't walk well. That when they will come, when she walks on her own. And she knows this. Zeb pulls out an illegal phone and dials a number. He says a lot of codenames and such. Finally, he gets who he wants.  
>"Please Gale, I can carry her, I'm strong," a pause, "She cannot take even one more round of what they- HOW DO I KNOW? Well because I'm fucking in there that's how!" a fuming pause. "Yes she's strong, but not that strong if you only knew what they did to her." Did to her? What about me?<br>"Do they know I'm coming?" I ask. He looks at me for a minute as if to say, this isn't about you. I cower back, cradling my arm.  
>"Are they coming or not?" With a sudden flourish, Zeb picks Johanna up. She claws and punches and kicks him, refusing to settle in his arms. She tears at his neck she screams in his ear, tries to leap to the ground.<br>"Hold still. You want to get out of here?" She calms down a little.

"Zeb," I'm getting frustrated, "Are they taking me too?" I widen my eyes and I try to look innocent. He put Jo down and walks over to me. He looks back over at Johanna, now dragging herself into her corner. He turns back around. His beautiful grey eyes look straight into mine, he bites his lip, and then he kisses mine. It's unlike anything I've ever experienced before. At first I tense, fearing movement and then, I respond back pushing mine full force onto his. Johanna clears her throat.

"Get in the corner." He says as he scoops Jo up again like a baby. He begins to pile up the robes on me. I look at him again, still in shock. A tear comes out of his eye. Then, the world shakes and cinderblocks begin to collapse around me, I'm still looking at him when he turns away and then turns back around. "Lizza!" I look at him terrified, "I love you." He says it fast. Then he hops over the cinderblocks and is gone. More blocks pile on top of me and I turn so my face is up against them so they won't hit my back. I see the only way out will be through the Zeb and Jo went through. The wall is pure steel with cinderblocks over it in here. I start to run towards the door, blasted open by the explosion. I nearly am close to it, before a cinderblock falls on my arm, pinning me to the ground. I try to push it off fast so that no more can pile on top of it. As I do, I see two workers with guns running through ,sweeping the area.

"Over here!" I scream, but they don't hear me. I begin to jump up and down and they see me. They aren't delighted to see me. I see the man lift the gun up until I'm in his crosshairs. It takes me a second longer to realize I'm not who theyre looking for. Right as the bullet flies through my chest.

As I fall to the ground, my last thoughts go to Johanna and Zeb. They left me, they didn't want me with them. Johanna didn't want me. I'm not important enough, just Johanna Mason's little sister with no name that no one loves. My final words go to Zeb, "Zeb," I wheeze, "Come back…I love you to," Sprawled across the concrete, bloodied, tired, and uncared for, soldiers crowd around my body. I hear someone say, "Civilian down!" they think I work here. I see a face with sweaty black hair and small grey eyes, must be Gale.

"What do we do Soldier Hawthorne?" A soldier asks. His face looks worried.

"God damn it Sprowley! This wasn't supposed to happen!" He begins to cry. "No one tells Johanna about this, no one." They I'm dead. And maybe I am. I don't feel dead. I want to cry out, I'm alive, but I'm on fire on the inside, and suddenly, it's all gone. I have no more pain. I feel wanted, but it is too late. I am at peace, finally.


End file.
